1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heart stimulator for electric stimulation of a heart, of the type having comprising an impedance measuring unit that measures the impedance between at least two measurement electrodes implanted in a patient such that volume changes of at least one of the chambers of the left heart result in changes in the measured impedance, and an analyzer for analyzing the measured impedance for the control of the stimulation of the heart.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heart stimulators of this above general type are known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,334,422 and 5,584,868 and 6,223,079, disclose cardiac stimulating apparatus for use in heart failure therapy, wherein intracardiac impedance variations are used for sensing the cardiac function. U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,774 discloses a rate responsive pacer which paces at a rate dependent on detected variations in the stroke volume of the heart. One mentioned example of inferring the stroke volume is by use of impedance measurements. For all these known devices the impedance sensing used for controlling the pacing is performed on beat-to-beat bases.